Incremental constitutive equation for large strain elasto plasticity

Starting from the standard theory with intermediate configuration for finite deformations of an isotropic elasto-plastic material with isotropic hardening, rate type constitutive equations are obtained. The small elastic strain approximation is then discussed and it is shown that, in this approximation, these equations reduce to Hill's formalism of large strain elasto-plasticity obtained from the classical Prandtl-Reuss relations of infinitesimal plasticity by substituting for the infinitesimal strain rate, stress and stress rate respectively the rate of deformation tensor, the Cauchy stress tensor and the Jaumann stress rate tensor. The limiting case of perfect plasticity is also investigated.     

Modeling of nonlinear viscoelasticity at large deformations

A constitutive model of finite strain viscoelasticity, based on the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient tensor into elastic and inelastic parts, is presented. The nonlinear response of rubbers, manifested by the rate effect, cycling loading and stress relaxation tests was captured through the introduction of two internal variables, namely the constitutive spin and the back stress tensor. These parameters, widely used in plasticity, are applied in this work to model the nonlinear viscoelastic behaviour of rubbers. The experimental results, obtained elsewhere, related with shear deformation in monotonic and cyclic loading, as well as stress-relaxation, were simulated with a good accuracy.     

Large strain constitutive modelling and computation for isotropic,creep elastoplastic damage solids

A three-dimensional fully coupled creep elastoplastic damage model at finite strain for isotropic non-linear material is developed. The model is based on the thermodynamics of an irreversible process and the internal state variable theory. A hyperelastic form of stress–strain constitutive relation in conjunction with the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient into elastic and inelastic parts is employed. The pressure-dependent plasticity with strain hardening and the damage model with two damage internal variables are particularly considered. The rounding of stress–strain curves appearing in cycling loading is reproduced by introduction of the creep mechanism into the model. A numerical integration procedure for the coupled constitutive equations with three hierarchical phases is proposed. A consistent tangent matrix with consideration of the fully coupled effects at finite strain is derived. Numerical examples are tested to demonstrate the capability and performance of the present model at large strain.     

Numerical approximation of incremental infinitesimal gradient plasticity

We investigate a representative model of continuum infinitesimal gradient plasticity. The formulation is an extension of classical rate‐independent infinitesimal plasticity based on the additive decomposition of the symmetric strain tensor into elastic and plastic parts. It is assumed that dislocation processes contribute to the storage of energy in the material whereby the curl of the plastic distortion appears in the thermodynamic potential and leads to an additional nonlocal backstress tensor. The formulation is cast into a numerical framework by a saddle point approximation of the corresponding minimization problem in each incremental loading step. This allows one to reformulate the (nonlocal) dissipation inequality to a point‐wise flow rule and yields a solution scheme, which is a direct extension of the standard approach in classical plasticity. Our numerical results show the regularizing effects of the additional physically motivated terms. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An additive theory for finite elastic–plastic deformations of the micropolar continuous media

In this paper, the method of additive plasticity at finite deformations is generalized to the micropolar continuous media. It is shown that the non-symmetric rate of deformation tensor and gradient of gyration vector could be decomposed into elastic and plastic parts. For the finite elastic deformation, the micropolar hypo-elastic constitutive equations for isotropic micropolar materials are considered. Concerning the additive decomposition and the micropolar hypo-elasticity as the basic tools, an elastic–plastic formulation consisting of an arbitrary number of internal variables and arbitrary form of plastic flow rule is derived. The localization conditions for the micropolar material obeying the developed elastic–plastic constitutive equations are investigated. It is shown that in the proposed formulation, the rate of skew-symmetric part of the stress tensor does not exhibit any jump across the singular surface. As an example, a generalization of the Drucker–Prager yield criterion to the micropolar continuum through a generalized form of the J ₂-flow theory incorporating isotropic and kinematic hardenings is introduced.     

Thin shells with finite rotations formulated in biot stresses: Theory and finite element formulation

A bending theory for thin shells undergoing finite rotations is presented, and its associated finite element model is described. The kinematic assumption is based on a shear elastic Reissner-Mindlin theory. The starting point for the derivation of the strain measures are the resultant equilibrium equations and the associated principle of virtual work. Within this formulation the polar decomposition of the shell material deformation gradient leads to symmetric strain measures. The associated work-conjugate stress resultants and stress couples are integrals of the Biot stress tensor. This tensor is invariant with respect to rigid body motions and, therefore, appropriate for the formulation of constitutive equations. Finite rotations are introduced via Eulerian angles. The finite element discretization of arbitrary shells is based on the isoparametric concept formulated with respect to a plane reference configuration. The numerical model is applied to different non-linear plate and shell problems and compared with existing formulations. Due to a consistent linearization, the step size of a load increment is only limited by the local convergence behaviour of Newton's method.     

Aspects of the formulation and finite element implementation of large strain isotropic elasticity

The paper presents a formulation of isotropic large strain elasticity and addresses some computational aspects of its finite element implementation. On the theoretical side, an Eulerian setting of isotropic elasticity is discussed exclusively in terms of the Finger tensor as a strain measure. Noval aspects are a direct representation of the Eulerian elastic moduli in terms of the Finger tensor and their rigorous decomposition into decoupled volumetric and isochoric contributions based on a multiplicative split of the Finger tensor into spherical and unimodular parts. The isochoric stress response is formulated in terms of the eigenvalues of the unimodular part of the Finger tensor. A constitutive algorithm for the computation of the stresses and tangent moduli for plane problems is developed and applied to a model problem of rubber elasticity. On the computational side, the implementation of the constitutive model in three possible finite element formulations is discussed. After pointing out algorithmic techniques for the treatment of incompressible elasticity, several numerical simulations are presented which show the performance of the proposed constitutive algorithm and the convergence behaviour of the different finite element fomulations for compressible and incompressible elasticity.     

A numerical study of hypoelastic and hyperelastic large strain viscoplastic Perzyna type models

For the case of metals with large viscoplastic strains, it is necessary to define appropriate constitutive models in order to obtain reliable results from the simulations. In this paper, two large strain viscoplastic Perzyna type models are considered. The first constitutive model has been proposed by Ponthot, and the elastic response is based on hypoelasticity. In this case, the kinematics of the constitutive model is based on the additive decomposition of the rate deformation tensor. The second constitutive model has been proposed by García Garino et al., and the elasticresponse is based on hyperelasticity. In this case, the kinematics of the constitutive model is based on the multiplicativedecomposition of the deformation gradient tensor. In both cases, the resultant numerical models have been implemented in updated Lagrangian formulation. In this work, global and local numerical results of the mechanical response of both constitutive models are analyzed and discussed. To this end, numerical experiments are performed and different parameters of the constitutive models are tested in order to study the sensitivity of the resultantalgorithms. In particular, the evolution of the reaction forces, the effective plastic strain, the deformed shapes and the sensitivity of the numerical results to the finite element mesh discretization have been compared and analyzed. The obtained results show that both models have a very good agreement and represent very well the characteristic of the viscoplastic constitutive model.     

Two‐point constitutive equations and integration algorithms for isotropic‐hardening rate‐independent elastoplastic materials in large deformation

This paper presents alternative forms of hyperelastic–plastic constitutive equations and their integration algorithms for isotropic‐hardening materials at large strain, which are established in two‐point tensor field, namely between the first Piola–Kirchhoff stress tensor and deformation gradient. The eigenvalue problems for symmetric and non‐symmetric tensors are applied to kinematics of multiplicative plasticity, which imply the transformation relationships of eigenvectors in current, intermediate and initial configurations. Based on the principle of plastic maximum dissipation, the two‐point hyperelastic stress–strain relationships and the evolution equations are achieved, in which it is considered that the plastic spin vanishes for isotropic plasticity. On the computational side, the exponential algorithm is used to integrate the plastic evolution equation. The return‐mapping procedure in principal axes, with respect to logarithmic elastic strain, possesses the same structure as infinitesimal deformation theory. Then, the theory of derivatives of non‐symmetric tensor functions is applied to derive the two‐point closed‐form consistent tangent modulus, which is useful for Newton's iterative solution of boundary value problem. Finally, the numerical simulation illustrates the application of the proposed formulations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of generalized measures to an orthotropic finite elasto-plasticity model

A numerical study of finite orthotropic elasto-plasticity based on generalized stress–strain measures is presented. The anisotropic constitutive equations are represented by isotropic tensor functions. A simple additive decomposition of strains can be performed due to the formulation in generalized measures. Furthermore, the plasticity model does not depend on special properties of any particular measure. The required projection tensor is constructed exploiting the coaxiality of the generalized deformation tensor with the right Cauchy–Green tensor. An efficient algorithmic implementation is proposed. Finally, we discuss representative numerical examples for orthotropic elasto-plasticity, where finite deformations occur.     

A simple orthotropic finite elasto–plasticity model based on generalized stress–strain measures

 In this paper we present a formulation of orthotropic elasto-plasticity at finite strains based on generalized stress–strain measures, which reduces for one special case to the so-called Green–Naghdi theory. The main goal is the representation of the governing constitutive equations within the invariant theory. Introducing additional argument tensors, the so-called structural tensors, the anisotropic constitutive equations, especially the free energy function, the yield criterion, the stress-response and the flow rule, are represented by scalar-valued and tensor-valued isotropic tensor functions. The proposed model is formulated in terms of generalized stress–strain measures in order to maintain the simple additive structure of the infinitesimal elasto-plasticity theory. The tensor generators for the stresses and moduli are derived in detail and some representative numerical examples are discussed. Received: 2 April 2002 / Accepted: 11 September 2002     

Constitutive equation for a class of non-simple elastic materials

Summary Initial yield is the upper limit of the purely elastic deformation behaviour of an elasticplastic solid. Thus the choice of the constitutive equation describing the purely elastic deformation behaviour determines the initial yield function. The constitutive equation of a simple elastic material is only compatible with von Mises yield criterion, a conclusion which applies also to the classical infinitesimal theory. A more general form of constitutive equation for an elastic material is formulated by way of the concept of a stress loading function, the proposed constitutive equation being quadratic in the stress. The two loading coefficients associated with the stress loading function are assumed to be deriveable from a generalised isotropic yield criterion which is now assumed to hold over the entire range of deformation, and in this context is referred to as the stress intensity function. The proposed constitutive equation has the same representation in terms of the left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor as that for a simple elastic material. Using the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, this representation is rearranged and expressed in terms of a measure of finite strain which is defined to be one quarter of the difference between the left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor and its inverse. In this way the strain properties of the proposed constitutive equation are formulated by way of the concept of a strain response function. The three response coefficients associated with the strain response function are assumed to be deriveable from a generalised, isotropic, strain intensity function. The predictions of the proposed constitutive equation are considered in the context of the combined stressing of a thin sheet of incompressible material. In this way, it is shown that the proposed constitutive equation is not limited in the same way as the constitutive equation of a simple elastic material.     

Solution of the slump test using a finite deformation elasto-plastic Drucker-Prager model

Development of a finite deformation elasto-plasticity model based on the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient is presented and discussed in detail. The formulation presented in this paper includes the derivation of the full set of equations for the Drucker-Prager yield criterion. The equations, which are not available elsewhere, are developed within a framework using a spectral decomposition approach. Further, expressions for the consistent (algorithmic) tangent moduli in the finite strain regime are developed. Since the finite deformation framework employed to obtain the expressions presented here collapses to the classical infinitesimal plasticity framework when the finite strain assumption is no longer necessary, the finite deformation consistent tangent moduli are compared to the consistent tangent moduli valid for use with infinitesimal plasticity. Validation of the implemented finite deformation elasto-plastic Drucker-Prager model is performed through the solution of the concrete slump test. Comparisons between an existing approximate analytical solution and experimental data are presented, and results are discussed in detail.     

Constitutive model and finite element formulation for large strain elasto-plastic analysis of shells

This contribution presents a refined constitutive and finite element formulation for arbitrary shell structures undergoing large elasto-plastic deformations. An elasto-plastic material model is developed by using the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient and by considering isotropic as well as kinematic hardening phenomena in general form. A plastic anisotropy induced by kinematic hardening is taken into account by modifying the flow direction. The elastic part of deformations is considered by the neo-Hookean type of a material model able to deal with large strains. For an accurate prediction of complex through-thickness stress distributions a multi-layer shell kinematics is used built on the basis of a six-parametric shell theory capable to deal with large strains as well as finite rotations. To avoid membrane locking in bending dominated cases as well as volume locking caused by material incompressibility in the full plastic range the displacement based finite element formulation is improved by means of the enhanced assumed strain concept. The capability of the algorithms proposed is demonstrated by various numerical examples involving large elasto-plastic strains, finite rotations and complex through-thickness stress distributions.     

A finite strain model of combined viscoplasticity and rate-independent plasticity without a yield surface

A new internal variable formulation dealing with mechanisms with different characteristic times in solid materials is proposed within a finite deformation framework. The framework relies crucially on the consistent combination of a general viscoplastic theory and a rate-independent theory (generalized plasticity) which does not involve the yield surface concept as a basic ingredient. The formulation is developed initially in a material setting and then is extended to a covariant one by applying some basic elements and results from the tensor analysis on manifolds. The covariant balance of energy is systematically employed for the derivation of the mechanical state equations. It is shown that unlike the case of finite elasticity, for the proposed formulation the covariant balance of energy does not yield the Doyle–Ericksen formula, unless a further assumption is made. As an application, by considering the material (intrinsic) metric as a primary internal variable accounting for both elastic and viscoplastic (dissipative) phenomena within the body, a constitutive model is proposed. The ability of the model in simulating several patterns of the complex response of metals under quasi-static and dynamic loadings is assessed by representative numerical examples.     

A Lagrangian model for hardening behaviour of materials at finite deformation based on the right plastic stretch tensor

In this paper a modified multiplicative decomposition of the right stretch tensor is proposed and used for finite deformation elastoplastic analysis of hardening materials. The total symmetric right stretch tensor is decomposed into a symmetric elastic stretch tensor and a non-symmetric plastic deformation tensor. The plastic deformation tensor is further decomposed into an orthogonal transformation and a symmetric plastic stretch tensor. This plastic stretch tensor and its corresponding Hencky’s plastic strain measure are then used for the evolution of the plastic internal variables. Furthermore, a new evolution equation for the back stress tensor is introduced based on the Hencky plastic strain. The proposed constitutive model is integrated on the Lagrangian axis of the plastic stretch tensor and does not make reference to any objective rate of stress. The classic problem of simple shear is solved using the proposed model. Results obtained for the problem of simple shear are identical to those of the self-consistent Eulerian rate model based on the logarithmic rate of stress. Furthermore, extension of the proposed model to the mixed nonlinear isotropic/kinematic hardening behaviour is presented. The model is used to predict the nonlinear hardening behaviour of SUS 304 stainless steel under fixed end finite torsional loading. Results obtained are in good agreement with the available experimental results reported for this material under fixed end finite torsional loading.     

Applications of the element-free Galerkin method for singular stress analysis under strain gradient plasticity theories

It is known that the plasticity models affect characterization of the crack tip fields. To predict failure one has to understand the crack tip stress field and control the crack. In the present work the element-free Galerkin methods for gradient plasticity theories have been developed and implemented into the commercial finite element code ABAQUS and used to analyze crack tip fields. Based on the modified boundary layer formulation it is confirmed that the stress singularity in the gradient plasticity theories is significantly higher than the known HRR solution and seems numerically to equal to 0.78, independently of the strain-hardening exponent. The strain singularity is much lower than the known HRR one. The crack field in gradient plasticity under small-scale yielding condition consists of three zones: The elastic K-field, the plastic HRR-field dominated by the J-integral and the hyper-singular stress field. Even under gradient plasticity there exists an HRR-zone described by the known J-integral, whereas the hyper-singular zone cannot be characterized by J. The hyper-singular zone is very small (r ? J/σ₀) and contained by the HRR zone in the infinitesimal deformation framework. The finite strains under the gradient plasticity will not eliminate the stress singularity as r → 0, in contrast to the known finite strain results under the Mises plasticity. Numerically no significant changes in characterization of the stress field were found in comparison with the infinitesimal deformation theory. Since the hyper-singular stress field is much smaller than the HRR zone and in the same size as the fracture process zone, one may still use the known J concept to control the crack in the gradient plasticities. In this sense the gradient plasticity will not change characterization of the crack.     

A generalized micromechanics model with shear-coupling

Summary A unified mathematical framework for a higher-order transverse shear-normal stress coupled micromechanical model is presented. The model is developed based on the analysis of a repeating unit cell in a doubly periodic array of fibers. The behavior in subregions within the unit cell is modeled using an expansion for the displacement field. The order and form of the displacement expansions in the subregions are arbitrary. The higher-order terms in the displacement expansion result in coupling between the transverse shearing and the normal deformation responses (shear coupling). The formulation is sufficiently general to allow generic elastic, plastic, viscoelastic, viscoplastic, or damage constitutive models (within the context of infinitesimal strain theory) for history-dependent behavior to be incorporated into the micromechanical framework. The proposed approach is analytical and provides closed-form expressions for the effective macroscopic behavior of a continuous fiber composite.The model is validated by comparison with existing micromechanics models. The agreement between the predicted effective moduli obtained from the current model and other existing models indicates that the current formulation accurately predicts the effective elastic behavior of a composite. Furthermore, comparison with existing data for the local elastic stress distributions around the inclusion indicates that the current model correctly captures the trends and magnitudes in these distributions. The predictions obtained from the current theory are shown to be more accurate than the corresponding MOC predictions. The ability to more accurately capture the spatial stress distributions can be directly attributed to the incorporation of the shear-coupling phenomena.Finally, the influence of the presence of shear coupling on the local field distributions is considered for the simple macroscopic loading cases of transverse tension and transverse shearing. It is shown that signficant coupling between the local transverse shearing and normal deformation responses exists even when the composite is subjected to a macroscopically simple loading field. The existence of this coupling has potentially significant implications in the implementation of history-dependent constitutive models.